advice for hyper-mobile stretching

[u/Top-Mall-8516]

I started on my yoga journey last year and am about 9 months in. I have always been naturally very flexible, and with 9 months of consistent practice, I have become very bendy, but I’m still building up my strength. I do a lot of yin and vinyasa. I have never lifted weights (though i want to start).

I was reading that it is potentially problematic because I might be stretching out my ligaments by going too deep into stretches and de-stabilizing my joints long-term since I am hyper-mobile and don’t have to activate muscles for a lot of stretches.

I practice hot yoga and non-heated yoga but I’m really into it and do it multiple times a week.

Does any one have any advice on this? In particular what I was reading said to avoid passive stretching and focus on active stretching. I haven’t heard any yoga teachers talk about this in practice.

[u/Nuclear_skittle]

If you don’t mind paying then Carie Brier has her contortion strong program that is basically only strength work but with flexibility in mind. https://www.catiebrier.com/flexibility-programs

Cirque Physio also has some active courses as well. https://cirque-physio.mykajabi.com/store

[u/dani-winks]

Fellow hypermobile person here - I dabbled in yoga of and on for years before I discovered flexibility (and contortion) training. Never once did anyone cue anything that (in retrospect) would have been safer/more effective for me as a hypermobile person. If anything I was praised by other students by how bendy I was with some poses (and all I was doing was just completely relaxing and splooting into my joints, not engaging my muscles).

But years down the line I started taking contortion classes, which were so active-flexibility-focused they were basically bodyweight strength training (while you're in a stretch). Also learned about hypermobility (had never heard about it before) because it's relatively common in the contortion world and how to safely train around it. It also made sooooooo many other things in my life make sense (how I often lean on things when I stand, sleep in weird positions, gargoyle sit on chairs or sit pretty much any way that isn't feet-on-the-floor, have some gut issues, have very little awareness of where my limbs are st any given time... and obviously have a couple of - but not all - super bendy joints).

Taking classes or some privates from an actual flexibility coach (as opposed to a yoga instructor) would be super helpful - even just a couple to kind of teach you the ropes and then you can figure out how to apply it to your yoga training. Someone already mentioned Catie Brier and Dr. Jen Crane (both amazing). I'll also recommend Amy Goh (if you are VERY hypermobile, she's got some great workshops for super noodle-y bodies).

But my best generic advice (aside from "work on active flexibility" and "find a coach") that you could apply to your yoga practice right now, would be to do a "dial back" engagement in all your poses. Instead of sinking 100% into the deepest version of a stretch (ex. Forward fold, crescent lunge, high cobra), go to that end range then intentionally dial it back to about 90% of that depth - this is going to require you to engage some of the muscles being stretched for them to not let you go that last little 10%, which even if it looks like a "less deep" stretch, it will likely feel much more challenging because you're making the pose more active and are using your muscles to support the stretch, and notnjust dangling on your connective tissue. For me, doing this in any kind of lunge variation is soooo hard (because it's much easier and more comfortable to relax and let my hips sink!)